By Kaveesha Fernando
WASHINGTON D.C., USA (CWBN)_ US President Donald Trump placed his signature on the bipartisan COVID-19 relief bill (which Congress agreed upon last week) after initially refusing to do so.
The president explained why he opposed the bill in a speech last week, stating that he felt the bill did not offer enough relief to Americans and that it spent too much money on foreign countries and “special interests”. President Trump also stated that he wanted 2000USD to be given to Americans rather than the 600USD proposed in the bill; a stance which Republicans refused to support in Congress.
If the bill was not signed by Monday, a partial shutdown of the government would have taken place. It is also unlikely that another bill would have been agreed upon in such circumstances; the current bill took months of tedious bipartisan negotiation.
It should be noted that President Trump’s accusation that the Democrats were responsible for only agreeing to pay only 600USD per American is in fact false; it was actually the Republicans who refused to approve a figure higher than 600USD.
An excerpt from President Trump’s speech last week
“…it’s called “the Covid relief bill”, but it has almost nothing to do with Covid.
This bill contains 85.5 million dollars for assistance to Cambodia, 134 million dollars to Burma, 1.3 billion dollars for Egypt and the Egyptian military- which will go out and buy almost exclusively Russian military equipment, 25 million dollars for democracy and gender programmes in Pakistan, 505 million dollars to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
40 million dollars for the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C.- which is not even open for business, 1 billion dollars for the Smithsonian and an additional 154 million dollars for the National Gallery of Art. Likewise, these facilities are essentially not open.
7 million dollars for reef fish management, 25 million dollars to combat Asian carp, 2.5 million dollars to count the number of Amberjack fish in the Gulf of Mexico, a provision to promote breeding of fish in federal hatcheries, 3 million dollars in poultry production technology, 2 million dollars to research the impact of down trees.
566 million dollars for construction projects at the FBI. The bill also allows stimulus checks for the family members of illegal aliens- allowing them to get up to 1800 dollars each. This is far more than the Americans are given.
Despite all of this wasteful spending, and much more than 900 dollar billion package provides hard-working taxpayers with only 600 dollars each in relief payments, and not enough money is given to small businesses, and in particular, restaurants, whose owners have suffered so grievously – they were only given a deduction for others to use in business – their restaurant for two years. This two year period must be withdrawn, which will allow the owners to obtain financing and get their restaurants back in condition. Congress can terminate it at a much later date, but two years is not acceptable – it’s not enough.
Congress found plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists and special interests while sending the bare minimum to the American people who need it. It wasn’t their fault – It was China’s fault – not their fault.
I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low 600 dollars to 2000 dollars or 4000 dollars for a couple. I am also asking Congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation and to send me a suitable bill.”
